Argo (London Film Festival review)

I’m “biast” (pro): the trailer alone gave me chills; deals with some of my pet topics, including Hollywood insiderness and political criticism; I’ve been astonished by Ben Affleck’s work as a director and hoped for another great film from him

I can’t remember this ever happening to me before: I was literally in tears for parts of Argo, a purely physical reaction, not an emotional one, to deal with the tension. The only other option would have been to moan out loud, the film is almost that unbearably nerve-wracking. And this is even though I was aware of the general outcome, if not all the details, of the story I was watching. That isn’t only some serious movie magic, it’s a downright master class in suspense filmmaking from director Ben Affleck (The Town, Gone Baby Gone). Everybody else: This is how it’s done.

But… Oh man, I’m laughing to myself again merely recalling how fantastic Argo is just on the plane of visceral cinematic experience. Because when I wasn’t doubled over in anxious agony, I was laughing out loud — another thing I rarely do at the movies; chuckles or snorts, sure, but not guffaws — at the hilarious Hollywood satire propping up the political action thriller stuff. As you’ve likely heard, Argo is the mostly true story of how a CIA specialist concocts a crazy plan to help six Americans escape from Tehran in the midst of the anti-American fervor of the U.S. embassy hostage crisis that began in 1979 and stretched on for more than a year… a crazy plan that involves having them pose as a Canadian film crew on the ground in Iran to do location scouting for a science fiction film called Argo and flying out under those assumed identities. But it has to be a real fake movie if it’s going to have any chance of working, so “exfiltration” expert Tony Mendez (Affleck) heads to Hollywood to lay the groundwork. Here — with producer Lester Siegel (Alan Arkin: City Island, Marley & Me) and makeup artist John Chambers (John Goodman: ParaNorman, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), the latter of whom Mendez had worked with before — he sets up a production company, options an actual script that’s been knocking around L.A. looking for a buyer, holds a press event to announce the film: the whole shebang.

In between jokes about the WGA being as ruthless as Islamic revolutionaries and Hollywood as just like covert intelligence — secretive and full of people pretending to be something they’re not — is brutally stinging criticism of American foreign policy, media, and public life. On a TV in the background of one scene we hear then President Carter saying, “The actions of Iran have shocked the civilized world,” a clear slash at the hypocrisy of such a statement. For the film had opened by calmly explaining the background of the embassy storming and hostage taking by Islamic revolutionaries: it’s the backlash from the U.S.- and U.K.-engineered coup in 1953 that installed the cruel puppet Shah and took back Iran’s oil, which the prior democratically elected Iranian leader had selfishly nationalized — ie, taken it away from Western corporations — on behalf of the Iranian people. Where was the international shock when that happened? Did any Americans who festooned their homes and yards with yellow ribbons — Argo makes sure we are reminded how ubiquitous they were in the U.S. in 1979 and 1980 — in support of the hostages have the slightest inkling that the rage of the Iranians toward America wasn’t unjustified?

This is a rageful movie in some ways, but none of its ire detracts from the inexorable push of the supremely exciting narrative: it’s but one more layer of brilliance woven through it by screenwriter Chris Terrio (Heights). (Argo is based on the 2007 Wired article “How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans From Tehran” by Joshuah Bearman; it’s probably best not to read it until you’ve seen the movie.) And the rage is more directed at bullshit in general. The Iranians don’t escape digs at their hypocrisy: Mendez believes his movie ruse will work because so many of the revolutionaries, such as the guards they will encounter at the airport, were educated in the West and can be expected to be as taken with Hollywood as the rest of the world is. One character notes that the angry mobs in the streets of Tehran are playing for the news cameras, putting on a show for the planet as much as they are expressing genuine emotion. And there’s a telling shot of women draped in black robes enjoying fried chicken at a packed Tehran KFC… though the gift of greasy fast food hardly seems like a fair trade for an entire country’s natural resources.

America and Americans take the brunt of the film’s reproach — if Mendez’s Argo plan is, as one of the would-be escapees cries, “theater of the absurd,” so is all of it: the President’s condemnation, the yellow ribbons, the ease with which the CIA can roam abroad doing whatever the hell it pleases. The U.S. is very very good at pretending, whether it’s the fakery of Hollywood — hey, the replica late 70s-early 80s hair and makeup is amazing here; the film has a gorgeous period look, and is in no way a parody of a style that now looks dated to us — or the nonsense of the official fantasy that as a nation we can do no wrong, only be wronged against.

All that said, this is a movie about individuals, not nations. That line of Carter’s? We don’t hear so much as overhear it. The criticism isn’t in our faces even as it is piled on, and there’s a particular cleverness to that: it removes any question that the film is propagandizing. The six Americans in hiding at the home of the Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber: Kung Fu Panda 2, Milk) may have been embassy workers — they escaped becoming hostages by literally sneaking out a back door — but they don’t deserve to be tried and executed as spies, as would happen were they caught, no matter how justifiably angry the Iranian revolutionaries are.

There’s not a thing wrong here. Argo is simply a fantastic movie: very funny, hugely suspenseful, enormously intelligent, beautifully presented in every possible way. It even features one of the best catchphrases in ages: “Argo fuck yourself!” (You won’t be able to not repeat it endlessly.) It’s a shame they won’t be able to say it at the Oscars.

i read the source material, and the book “Argo”, heard tony mendez and one of the “houseguests” at a panel discussion and i have to say the movie really does *improve* on the story… one of the few instances where the movie is better than the already great source material… i loved this movie. it’s the first one in quite a long time — at least this whole year — where i will pay to see a movie again in the movie theartre…

sandra

The Americans have rewritten The Canadian Caper to make themselves the heroes. Typical.

Frances

I laughed out loud when Mendez introduced himself to the Americans at the residence of the Canadian Ambassador. Perfect Star Wars allusion! I swear I saw a glimmer in Affleck’s eyes when he said his line. :D Loved it! Loved the movie!

Malke

Thank you! Spoken – uhm, written – from my heart!!

Zzartzz

Classic suspenseful nail biter. I was muttering to myself ( oh no!, no, no …!). Funny how in the dark
you can let yourself go. There’s an Academy Award in here someplace.

bronxbee

the Canadians were given plenty of credit… as well as all kinds of awards from our government and the acknowledgement that the rescu was necessary because the canadians were being forced to shut down their own embassy for their own safety……but the actual ex-filtration was performed by the CIA…mainly by one operative.

http://profiles.google.com/lauriemann57 Laurie Mann

I liked the movie and do recommend it, but not as unreservedly as MaryAnn. I was a little disappointed.

I understand that it’s hard for Hollywood to make a “true” story. They feel compelled to add more Hollywood tropes. Heck, every time I listen to the Lord of the Rings commentaries and hear Peter Jackson or Phillipa Boyens talk about the need to “amp up the story,” I want to scream because they made many bad choices by going in that direction (well, the “falling stairs” in the mines of Moria was a pretty cool scene).

I feel Argo had two problems – Ben Affleck’s performance was too one-note and most of the last 20 minutes or so were unnecessary.

The movie did a very good job of showing the internal tension of the Americans. I didn’t object to all the embellishments in the airport – I actually liked the scene where the Iranians were interviewing them…and turned out to be movie fans. The chase scene near the end just struck me as an unnecessary Hollywoodization of the situation. It would have been more ironic if the John Goodman and Alan Arkin characters speculated on what was happening in Iran, and they felt a scene of trucks filled with revolutionaries chasing a plane would be the way to end the escape.

It was also too bad that they didn’t go back to the original story where the Canadian ambassador worked more with the Americans on how to be Canadian.

Maybe Argo would have been a better movie if they’d gone a complete black comedy route. The script wavers in that direction from time to time, and those were my favorite parts of the flick.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_D3LBXIVBHMEF56Y26VZ7YSGIYA Jacob

Great suspense because of the fast, smooth cutting between Washington, Hollywood, the Canadian embassy, and elsewhere in Teheran. The cuts frequently use either overlapping sound or motion in the same direction so that the action seems to continue from one shot to the next, and the rhythm builds tension. Affleck’s editor deserves an Oscar nomination.

As to shocking the civilized world, Mary Anne, lets remember that countries like Iran didn’t used to count as part of the civilized Euro-American world, which was allowed to do as it pleased with them as long as it could get away with it. The oil was discovered by the British 100+ years ago when the Iranians were still walking behind oxcarts, and Churchill set up the Anglo-Persian Oil Co. before World War I to get it out for the benefit of the Royal Navy. The last Shah was put into power at age 18 or so in 1941, when the British Army marched on Teheran and sent his pro-German father into exile, and the UK and USSR jointly occupied the country until 1946. Nobody, except maybe some Iranians, saw anything wrong with any of that, and their opinions didn’t count until they used force to make them count.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_D3LBXIVBHMEF56Y26VZ7YSGIYA Jacob

I agree that a scene teaching Americans how to seem Canadian has great comic potential, right up there with the how to walk like a man scene from Cage aux Folles and The Birdcage. But the timing would have been wrong. The Hollywood episode had already broken the tension, and the last act required that it be continually ratcheted up.

Brian Kelly

Just finally saw this, and loved it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention! (I don’t watch TV, so these days most movies get on my radar through you.)

LaSargenta

This has been my favorite movie of the last several months.

Mlindsay

This was a Canadian story. Exfiltration was not as urgent as it was portrayed,
Affleck did a good Chuck Norris
He met hastily with Ambassador Ken Taylor before the release of the film, cos the Academy does not like ‘true’ films based on lies. Taylor graciously kept his mouth shut, but Affleck has to add that disclaimer at the end of the film.
For that reason I could not watch this John Wayne junk.

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